Grainy game footage and yellowing newspaper clippings collide UCLA is college basketball royaltythe team’s blue blood status is rooted in the success of a coach who retired nearly 50 years ago.
John Wooden Ten national championships in a 12-year span is more than any other program has won in its history. On the other hand, the Bruins have only won one championship since Wooden left, Jim Harrick’s team in 1995 preventing the school from becoming 0 over the last half century.
North Carolina, the blue blood the Bruins will face Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden in the CBS Sports Classic, has won five of its six titles since 1982. By comparison, most of UCLA’s success can be look like something done on peach baskets. .
Over the years, the banners hung inside the Pauley Pavilion fade like the memories of these championships. UCLA went without a title for nearly 30 years, while seven teams added multiple banners to their collection during the same period. Has the fundamental power structure in the sport changed? Could the Bruins be about to abandon their hallowed status, their blood no longer the deepest shade of blue?
“Hell no,” Marques Johnson, a member of Wooden’s last national championship team in 1975, said this week. “I just don’t think you give up that spot in terms of the prestige and elite-level claim that you deserve based on what you’ve done historically as a program.”
According to Johnson, a blue blood is more of a historical honor than a contemporary one, belonging to teams that dominated the sport when it was gaining a foothold in the national consciousness more than 50 years ago. Once you’re a member, Johnson said, you never give up your membership.
Historical references date back several decades, with a 1951 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer describing Xavier’s early-season losses as having come against teams listed in “the blue blood directory of college basketball.” The term has long become a favorite of broadcasters even though it was never used by Wooden, according to Gary Cunningham, who played for the legendary coach before becoming one of his early successors.
Johnson’s true blue bloods — UCLA, Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke and Kansas — largely fit the list of most decorated programs. Kentucky’s eight national championships rank second behind UCLA, followed by North Carolina and Connecticut (six each), Duke and Indiana (five each) and Kansas (four).
While Indiana won titles in 1940 and 1953, the Hoosiers are more widely associated with their success under coach Bobby Knight, who won three more championships in the 1970s and 1980s. Johnson places the Indiana in its second tier of elite teams.
“We have to slip them in,” Johnson said, “because they came a little late to the party, not exactly nouveau riche, but long enough and dominant that it’s absolutely necessary to talk about them in the same breath.
Who does Johnson consider a nouveau riche? He listed UConn and Gonzaga, teams that have had wild success in recent decades but haven’t won enough historically to be considered classic blue bloods. Gonzaga continues to seek its first title, after losing in championship play in 2017 and 2021.
UCLA’s streak of 10 titles between 1964 and 1975 puts the Bruins in a league of their own, according to Johnson.
“It’s something,” Johnson said, “that will never be replicated by any school in history for a number of reasons, as we know – NIL and unique and all that.”
Even though Duke has won every title since 1991, Johnson said the Blue Devils qualify as a blue blood team because they were a top team long before that, reaching the Final Fours in 1963, 1964 and 1978.
Jay Bilas, a center for the Blue Devils as the team emerged as a national power under coach Mike Krzyzewski in the mid-1980s, said his definition of blue blood mirrors that of the Supreme Court in matter of obscenity.
“I can’t define it,” Bilas said, “but I know it when I see it.”
For Bilas, the blue blood combines sustained high-level success with championship tradition. Bilas agreed with Johnson’s characterization of UCLA, Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke and Kansas as a no-brainer, but added UConn among the top five schools based on recent racing of the Huskies who have won six championships since 1999 and in a row. titles the last two seasons under coach Danny Hurley.
“No one has been better than UConn in the last 25 years,” said Bilas, now a veteran analyst for ESPN.
Part of the fun in discussions about who is considered a blue blood is that there is rarely consensus.
Bilas said he considered Michigan State, which won titles in 1979 and 2000 and made eight additional Final Four appearances, to be a blue blood, but understood that not everyone agreed — including including Spartans coach Tom Izzo.
Learn more: There’s No I in the Banner: Restocked with Talent, UCLA Puts Egos Aside in Title Quest
“Oddly enough,” Bilas said, “Izzo was saying no and I was arguing with him and saying, ‘No, you’re a blue blood’ and he was saying to me, ‘No, I’m not sure we’ I reached this objective.
UCLA remains firmly entrenched as blue bloods despite its recent lack of titles, Bilas said, because of its three consecutive Final Fours under coach Ben Howland from 2006 to 2008 and another appearance under the direction of coach Mick Cronin in 2021.
“It’s pretty tough to play UCLA winning 10 of 12 and they’re not a blue blood,” Bilas said. “Now, while UCLA hasn’t really maintained the same type of dominance, it hasn’t fallen off the cliff either. It’s just that when your goal is to win 10 out of 12, nothing seems as good. So UCLA is there and they’re probably top five.
One of the biggest questions in blue blood analysis is where is the cutoff line? Are schools like Louisville and Villanova, with multiple championships, among them? What about Syracuse, which only won one title but enjoyed decades of success under coach Jim Boeheim?
“To me,” Bilas said, “blue blood is more of a feeling than a recognized nickname that we hand out like, ‘OK, here’s our blue bloods’ and ‘Hey, you’re almost a blue blood, just a few more years.’ . and you will enter. There’s no arbiter for this, but it’s an interesting question.
Cronin said he considered blue bloods to be defined by the public’s perception of who is supposed to be good, listing the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Dodgers based on their success when most adults were growing up .
“These teams are historically good and have won titles and competed at a high level. So there’s a connotation with a certain program, whether it’s college football or basketball or the NBA or whatever.” , Cronin said. “Who are the NBA blue bloods?” You would say (Boston) Celtics, Lakers. And then actually, it’s from the ’80s, but we would say that because that’s what we (all knew as kids).”
But perception may differ from reality, Cronin said, given the slowdowns experienced by those same teams. UCLA and North Carolina are trying to bounce back from their recent struggles — the Bruins posted a losing record last season and the Tar Heels failed to make the NCAA Tournament two years ago. Both have learned that being considered a blue blood doesn’t earn extra points on the scoreboard.
Along the same lines, Cronin said, he prefers to be a big boy — a team with the most money — rather than a blue blood.
“All you have to do is see who’s bringing in which recruits,” Cronin said. “Look, you’re talking about some kids, they’re going to the highest bidder now – 90 percent of these kids are playing basketball and soccer. I’d rather be a big boy than a blue blood in this era because the big boy has the advantage.
This story was originally published in Los Angeles Times.
